L a r r y

I was throwing a 5XD this past Friday on my STX HS reel on a 7'3" MH rod on Seaguar InvizX 15lbl fluro. One thing I had forced myself to remember was...SLOW DOWN. There was alot of hydrilla I was ripping it out of. You can fish any type lure, on any type combo, the one thing you have to do is make adjustments to the gear you are using. I backed off the drag some, and slowed down my retrieve. Heck, you could even get Mobey Dick in on a willow branch with a shoelace, and a paper clip for a hook (far fetched...I know )

Thats what shocked us both. Fish had a long body, decent head and we thought it was bigger. She definitely needs to start eating more Thanks everyone

Well this year of fishing has been pretty exciting none the less. Starting out from the spawn to now with some fish being on a deep southern pattern to some top water frog fishing. There has been some days where I've not caught nothing. Here are a few pictures of decent sized fish. My best this year has come off bed fishing with a Matt Lures bluegill swim bait, to some deep crank bait fish. This one was from early this year bed fishing, you can see the Matt Lures blue gill hanging above her....she went right at 6.8lb Here is one caught on a deep crank in 15ft of water off a H20 crank, she went 6.4lbs Frog fish, that blew a Spro popping into orbit after I pulled it from the grass and giving one twitch. No weight on her, but I'm guessing 4.5 - 5.25lbs This was from yesterday, on a SK 5XD Spatter back yellow belly. This went 4.8lb on the scale No more than 3 minutes after catching the previous fish, this one bit in close to the same spot on the same crank. It went 3.8lb So it has been a fun year, alot of 2-3lb fish, catfish, and crappie caught on bass lures. I'm still searching for the DD as most of us are..... TIGHT LINES Fish more, Stress less

As the old saying goes..........a hard head makes a soft @$$

On my hollow body frogs, I've turned the hooks up just a little bit to get them away from the body. This has helped MY hookup ratio tremendously. This may not work for everyone, but it did for me

Insert song "I've got love.....on my mind!" Thats what they have playing in their minds If you can't find them deep or shallow, and only getting short strikes, I would say that they are suspending. Try either a jerkbait, A-Rig, throw flukes, or either a T-trig worm (weightless) or wacky rig senko type bait. See if that produces for you. Also if there is any weed lines, concentrate on those, or flip a jig into the weeds (if they are present) and see if you can get any to bite. I've had good success here lately with the last one, either a finesse jig or a 1/2 ounce

Big-O, as always, the QUALITY of the fish you catch is amazing. One day when I grow up, I want to catch them like you

I got on the water a little after noon yesterday, so I was not sure on what I would find. I cruised around the bank to see if I could see any beds, and if there were any fish on them. I was able to see a few fish, but no takers. So I start to head back to another creek. I pull up into a cutout, kill the trolling motor, and I see Moby Dicks' sister cruising in front of me......EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE HOLY EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE. She cruises out away from the bed back toward the main lake.....GREAT, I just missed my chance with her. I mark her bed, and I cruise back a little further and see a bunch of small bucks, so I knew she was back there getting her groove on, with a little Barry White playing in the background ) So I turn back around, and see her cruising around the bed and I move my pond jumper into position about 20 yards away to try and not disturb her and keep her close. So I start pitching a small jig w/rage craw trailer...she noses down, but doesn't take it. I pull out a yum money craw, the male comes over picks it up but the claws and moves it........EXPLETIVE..... I pitch in some Senkos.......No go........EXPLETIVE!!!!!!!! So I grab another rod that has a Matt Lures Ultimate Bluegill. I pitch it way past the bed to keep them close, I swim it towards the bed, and she immediately turns and stares it down, swims over to it and just noses it....I make it to the bed, bounce it around a little with it's nose down action it has, and both of them are flaring on it, then they swim off.......I make another cast, they come back, and I guess I hit the right spot on the bed, and it bounces twice and I see her mouth open and just inhales this 5" bait like it was a 1/4 inch grub. I reel down and set the hook, and I had a hard time turning her on 50lb braid. GAME ON EXPLETIVE YEAH!!!!! I get a good solid hook set on her, hook buried in the top of her mouth, so I play her out until she tires and turns over on her side and I can lip her, this is what I had to look down in, hands shaking, legs shaking, I wasn't sure how well these pictures were going to come out, but here you go.......A good solid 7.6lbs she was, post spawn. I wished I could have gotten to her before she spawned to see her FULL of eggs. Through out the day, I caught 5 more fish, all a good solid 2.5 - 3.0 lbz range. If I was a tournament guy, I would have had a good bag, but I LOVE just to be able to get out on the water and see if I can get them to bite

YouTube to me is ALWAYS better than the owners manual. Because you have instructional video to show you step by step on how to do things.

Awesomest pics.......you've truly been on the big gurls 3/4 of your life

Everyone up there ^^^^^ goes through a spring cleaning and puts things away and pulls things back out? WOWWWW I've not had a rod/reel in my hand for no longer than two weeks and on the water OHHHHHHHHH I'm in HOT TEXAS where they don't have a fall/winter season........CARRY ON

I have the Kistler Helium LTA crankbait composite rod in the 7'3" version. In talking with Trey, he said that this would be a better fit as I would be throwing lipless cranks with this over grass. I can say that I can feel the tops of grass and can rip it very easily on 12lb mono and feel everything the bait is doing. I'm loving my Kistler rod, and will be making another purchase of a Kistler rod.

I used to do that 30 years ago with an old Zebco

Mannnnnnnnn those eyes are cocked like a pistol........Hope everything works out better on this next shipment for ya bruh....

The Rattlesnakes and baby rattlesnakes are a favorite of mine to use for carolina rigs. They caught me some nice size fish. And they do have a VERY pungent garlic odor

I've been tinkering around with this. What I've done is take a 1/2oz red eye shad, tie it on, and give it a go. I don't try and go for distance, I just keep doing it until it gets more comfortable. Practice practice practice. I've also started to play around with pitching left handed. This does seem to make more sense to ME, as I can pitch somewhere, and engage the reel without having to move the rod to my other hand.

His smile says it all. He looks to be full of joy and happiness that he caught a fish, and he caught it with GRANDPA........Congrats

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pig

ALL THE TIME!!!!!!

Come on down to Texas, where we have had 28 straight days of 100+ degree weather and the temps do not fall much when the sun goes down. But let me tell you, the fishing has been pretty darn good. I've gone out with a buddy the last two weekends getting on the water about 5:30am, and fish to about 11. Last weekend, we boated ahbout 18 fish, all over 4 pounds. We started out fishing topwater and that was awesome. Then when the sun came up that bite stopped, so then we switched to medium cranks and that was great. When the sun got high, we switched to carolina rigs (first for me) and the bite was still good. So, don't let the heat get to you, you have to think what the fish are doing and where they are going and what they are doing. We went out yesterday morning, and boated about 30 fish between us. Now this is on a 27 acre pond/lake, but with smaller waters, I would suspect things would be the same.

Fish guts....mmm mmm mmmmmm

Congrats on the good outing, I had a good day also, and the temps here in Texas has been over 100 degrees for the past month, so I know what you've been going through

Congrats to all of the manufacturers on putting their best foot forward.....Now get us those products so we can start the ole bench fishing stories ICAST 2011 Overall Best of Show - Pure Fishing, Inc., Berkley Nanofil Best of Show – Apparel - Frabill, Inc., Frabill Suit Best of Show – Boat - Hobie Cat, Hobie Mirage Revolution 11 Best of Show - Boating Accessory - JL Marine Systems, Inc., 10 Ft Power-Pole Blade Edition Best of Show – Combo - Daiwa Corporation, Daiwa D-Shock DSH-4Bi Combo Best of Show – Electronics - Johnson Outdoors Marine Electronics, Humminbird 1158c DI Combo Best of Show - Eyewear – Costa, Costa Women's Collection Best of Show - Fishing Accessory - G. Pucci & Sons, Inc., P-Line Sparrowhawk Best of Show - Fly Fishing Accessory – VestPac, DriftPac Best of Show - Fly Fishing Reel - Temple Fork Outfitters, BVK Fly Reel Best of Show - Fly Fishing Rod - G. Loomis, Inc., Pro4x Best of Show - Freshwater Reel - Pure Fishing, Inc., Abu Garcia Revo MGX I NEED THIS REEL NOW Best of Show - Freshwater Rod - G. Loomis, Inc., GL2 Best of Show – Giftware - 3D Picture Store, Inc., 3D "Exploring Smallmouth" Picture Best of Show - Kids' Tackle - Pure Fishing, Inc., Casting Game & Sound Fishing Kit Best of Show – Line - Pure Fishing, Inc., Berkley Nanofil Best of Show - Hard Lure - Pure Fishing, Inc., Sebile D&S Crank Best of Show - Soft Lure - Koppers Fishing & Tackle Corporation, LIVE TARGET Hollow Body Mouse Best of Show - Saltwater Reel - Daiwa Corporation, Saltiga SATG5000H Best of Show - Saltwater Rod - Shimano American Corporation, Terez Rail Rod Best of Show - Tackle Management - Plano Molding Company, 4674 Hydro-Flo Tackle Bag Terminal Tackle – VMC, Spinshot

It's freckles

I will be getting one of these. The price is not too bad, look at the Steez and Core, if people can drop that kind of cash on those and even the same price range for a used one, this doesn't seem to bad for me. Now I am waiting to get a sneak peak on on the AG Villain rod